Findings on Social Science and Medicine Discussed by Investigators at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (What Can Be Achieved With a Single-payer Nhi System: the Case of Taiwan)

2019 SEP 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Taiwan Daily Report -- Investigators publish new report on Health and Medicine - Social Science and Medicine. According to news reporting originating in Cambridge, United States, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The United Nations has incorporated the noble goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Most nations have already embraced UHC as their goal. However, an intense policy debate has risen about which health system structure can best achieve UHC.”

Financial support for this research came from National Health Insurance Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “Is a single-payer system more efficient, equitable and effective than a multiple-payer system for middle income countries? We argue that empirical evidence and in-depth analysis of single-payer and multiple-payer systems should inform this debate. First, we need a clear definition of single- and multiple-payer health systems that enables us to compare their differences and clarify the issues to be debated. Second, at least four key issues confront any nation that wishes to achieve UHC: (1) how to design an affordable comprehensive health benefit package for UHC and to finance it (2) how the health expenditure inflation rate can be managed to sustain UHC (3) how modern information technology can be used to enhance efficiency and quality of healthcare and (4) how to assure an adequate supply of high-quality services will be distributed equitably throughout a nation. This paper offers a definition of single- and multiple-payer and compares them.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “We then use Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system to address the four key issues, and illuminate how its policies and operations led to Taiwan’s successful UHC.”

For more information on this research see: What Can Be Achieved With a Single-payer Nhi System: the Case of Taiwan. Social Science & Medicine, 2019;233():265-271. Social Science & Medicine can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Social Science & Medicine - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/social-science-and-medicine/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting W.C. Hsiao, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Dept. of Health Policy and Management, 104 Mt Auburn St, Room 303, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States. Additional authors for this research include S.H. Cheng and W. Yip.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.006. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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